will virus infect other machines in the same wireless network?

When I setup wireless network at home, if one machine is infected with
virus, will the other machines be infected as well? Or if one machine
is hacked, will the others be infected too?

please advise. thanks!!



Ken

Ken wrote:
> When I setup wireless network at home, if one machine is infected with
> virus, will the other machines be infected as well? Or if one machine
> is hacked, will the others be infected too?
>
> please advise. thanks!!
>

If your machines trust each other and one is infected, and the virus has
a infection vector across one of the trusts, then yes, your other
machines are likely to be infected.

It would depend on the hacker, virus, worm, and without further
information we couldn't go into specifics.

On 12/02/05 17:07, Giles Coochey wrote:
> Ken wrote:
>
>> When I setup wireless network at home, if one machine is infected with
>> virus, will the other machines be infected as well? Or if one machine
>> is hacked, will the others be infected too?
>> please advise. thanks!!
>>
>
> If your machines trust each other and one is infected, and the virus has
> a infection vector across one of the trusts, then yes, your other
> machines are likely to be infected.
>
> It would depend on the hacker, virus, worm, and without further
> information we couldn't go into specifics.

It would depend on which OS the other machines are running? If the
answer is Windows I would say YES.
--
A computer is like an air conditioner,
it stops working when you open Windows.
Registered Linux user #337974 <http://counter.li.org/>

"Ken" <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:

>When I setup wireless network at home, if one machine is infected with
>virus, will the other machines be infected as well? Or if one machine
>is hacked, will the others be infected too?

Maybe. You have three separate computers. They may well all get infected by
the same outside source, they may infect each other, or they may get
missed.

Viruses are not some mysterious thing in the air, even if you use wireless.
They are specific pieces of data and programs that must be transfered and
run.


>please advise. thanks!!

"Ken" <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:

> When I setup wireless network at home, if one machine is infected with
> virus, will the other machines be infected as well? Or if one machine
> is hacked, will the others be infected too?
>
> please advise. thanks!!

If their security isn't any better than that of the infected or hacked
machine, almost certainly.
--
Joseph J. Pfeiffer, Jr., Ph.D. Phone -- (505) 646-1605
Department of Computer Science FAX -- (505) 646-1002
New Mexico State University http://www.cs.nmsu.edu/~pfeiffer
skype: jjpfeifferjr

["Followup-To:" header set to comp.os.linux.networking.]
On 2005-12-02, Ken <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> When I setup wireless network at home, if one machine is infected with
> virus, will the other machines be infected as well?

Not if you're using linux. There are no self-propogating linux viruses in
the wild.

> Or if one machine is hacked, will the others be infected too?

If you're using NIS to authenticate users, a password compromise on one
machine will compromise all the others using NIS as well. Use strong
passwords, and change them regularly to reduce the likelihood of this
happening.

--

John ((E-Mail Removed))

Ken wrote:

> When I setup wireless network at home, if one machine is infected with
> virus, will the other machines be infected as well? Or if one machine
> is hacked, will the others be infected too?

Well, if you're running Linux, viruses are not an issue. With Windows, they
can spread just as well as on a wired network i.e. virtually guaranteed to
spread.

In news:(E-Mail Removed) James Knott
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Ken wrote:
>
>> When I setup wireless network at home, if one machine is infected with
>> virus, will the other machines be infected as well? Or if one machine
>> is hacked, will the others be infected too?
>
> Well, if you're running Linux, viruses are not an issue.

If that attitude becomes widespread as more and more non-technical folks
start using Linux, you can be sure Linux will become a target.

Remember, the first reported Internet worm selectively infected Vaxen and
Sun boxes running Berkeley BSD UNIX.

--
Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN (E-Mail Removed)

"Bert Hyman" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:Xns9721A043A604CVeebleFetzer@216.250.184.7...
> In news:(E-Mail Removed) James Knott
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> Ken wrote:
>>
>>> When I setup wireless network at home, if one machine is infected with
>>> virus, will the other machines be infected as well? Or if one machine
>>> is hacked, will the others be infected too?
>>
>> Well, if you're running Linux, viruses are not an issue.
>
> If that attitude becomes widespread as more and more non-technical folks
> start using Linux, you can be sure Linux will become a target.
>

Amen you hit the head on the nail. When the clueless reach Linux, the sharks
will follow. I use Linux too and I have seen some of the attack reports on
that O/S and heaven help Linux. Anything written by fallible Human Beings is
not infallible and if one thinks it is one is kidding one's self.



Duane

Bert Hyman wrote:

>> Well, if you're running Linux, viruses are not an issue.
>
> If that attitude becomes widespread as more and more non-technical folks
> start using Linux, you can be sure Linux will become a target.
>
> Remember, the first reported Internet worm selectively infected Vaxen and
> Sun boxes running Berkeley BSD UNIX.

I've never claimed that Linux/Unix viruses are impossible. However, the
basic design philosophy of Unix & Linux makes it extremely difficult for
one to propigate. For example, IE is tightly coupled to the Windows
kernel, which means that if it gets compromised, the whole system is. Then
there's ActiveX, which relies on trusting the source for security, or the
old default behavior of Outlook to automatically run executable
attachments, limitations that encourage users to run as admin, etc. On the
other hand, Linux & Unix are designed in a modular fashion, which limits
the ability of a malware to do damage, a user has to a) detach an
executable b) make it executable and c) run it. Even then it can only
affect his own files and not the whole system. Also, users are discouraged
from running as root, except as necessary. Security in Linux & Unix was
built in from the start, as they were intended to be multiuser. Windows
however, was originally designed as a single user, non networked system,
with security controls tacked on later. You might also take note of the
fact that about 70 - 75% of all web sites are running Unix or Linux, yet
have the fewest successful attacks. Incidentally, many of those commercial
firewall/router boxes run Linux or Unix.